From a lengthy story in the Jeffersonville News and Tribune:
A new state law gives counties easier access to property tax revenues to pay for road repair, but local and state officials say it won’t make a dent in Indiana’s crumbling infrastructure.
The new law, effective July 1, allows counties more flexibility to dip into their general operating funds to patch the fiscal holes created by a loss of revenues from the other pots of money that traditionally have paid for highway maintenance.
Under the new law, counties can spend property tax or other miscellaneous general fund revenue to fix and maintain their county highways without having to wait for an emergency or get unanimous approval by a county council to do so.
The new law is seen as just a temporary fix. Due to state’s property tax caps that limit local governments from raising taxes, counties that spend their general fund money on road repair will have to take those dollars from salaries, services or something else.
“To some degree it will help, but it doesn’t give counties any more dollars,” said state Sen. Beverly Gard, a Republican who has represented a rural district in east central Indiana for 24 years. “It won’t solve the problem. To fix some of our really severely deteriorating roads, it’s going to take a lot more money.”
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Read the full story here:
http://newsandtribune.com/statenews/x1318681710/Counties-look-for-fix-to-fewer-dollars-for-road-repair
